As long as pornography has existed there have been debates about its potential danger and benefits. Usually these arguments come from either one of two extremes - either it’s a public health hazard rotting our culture and reinforcing sexism, or it’s a beautiful expression of intimate fantasy which helps its consumers discover their sexual selves.
Some argue that pornography is not only morally reprehensible, but criminal. Anti-porn campaigner Catherine MacKinnon called it “the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women.” People like MacKinnon often see porn as a vehicle for the reinforcement of sexist social issues which are toxic to our culture. Other anti-porn activists describe pornography as a form of sexual slavery which poisons the minds of the people who consume it. It’s important to note that this isn’t just the bystanders of the industry. Many ex-performers later come to regret their time in porn and lament their poor treatment and unfair compensation.
The pro-porn camp often argues that the depiction of graphic sex is beautiful and liberating. They flip the anti-feminist argument by claiming that pornography allows women to own their sexuality and have control over how its presented. They assert that porn can be used to challenge unhelpful sexual taboos and allow people to feel comfortable with their own expressions of intimacy.
Here’s the real answer: Porn can be, and often is exploitive, because capitalism is often exploitive. Just like the cheap t-shirts you buy made by unregulated workshops in Nicaragua, porn is made as cheaply as possible to maximize profits. This doesn’t mean that pornography or sex work is inherently morally incorrect, it means that we allow a dangerous profession to remain under-regulated for the sake of profit.
In her 2012 study of modern porn, “The Pornography Industry: What Everyone Needs to Know”, Shira Tarrant cites a porn agent who says an anal scene typically nets twelve hundred dollars. The performer Stoya gives the same price quote for a double penetration scene. These are flat rates which performers are paid regardless of the success of the final product. This means that, according to Stoya, getting double penetrated three times a month on camera nets you $43,200 a year. Not a great salary for risky and strenuous work in Southern California. What’s more, the payment has nothing to do with the success of the product. If Stoya gives a great performance and it gets extremely popular, she has no share of the royalties. She isn’t compensated in proportion to the quality of her work.
Performers in pornography are also beholden to agents, directors, and producers who make porn aimed at the most general consumer. It’s all designed to be quickly taken in and discarded in favor of another video. And if your tastes are a little off the beaten path, or if they require a slower build to create intimacy, then your choices are nil. Porn is about the creation and consumption of cheap, fast, heartless fucking.
Some would say that this cheapens sex and desensitizes us to deeper intimacy. I don’t think that’s true. I do think that it presents a one-dimensional, detached view of sex which, while not morally wrong, is boring as hell. Think back on some of your most memorable sexual experiences. Were they anything like what you see in porn? Some of mine have been funny, unexpected, or even embarrassing. The person and the circumstances made them special more than the acts involved. Sex exists on a fun, exciting, and weird spectrum. Porn represents only a tiny, dull sliver of it.
But, as mentioned, porn is meant to be consumed and discarded. Performers meet for 5 minutes on set before they start getting down. Is it any wonder that it’s so dull? Can the excitement and fun of actual sex even be depicted in that setting? Maybe it can, but it’s not cost effective. Or maybe it can’t because good sex takes time and chemistry. For whatever reason the best parts of sex aren’t a part of porn. I believe this why the porn industry is dying. For years consumers have been inundated with the same thoughtless jackhammering of professional porn. In our heads these videos have blurred together into one monotonous fuckfest that has managed to take all the fun out of sex.
And this is the same reason why live cams are thriving. They have every benefit missing in produced porn and offer even more. In a live cam experience you get a personal connection. You have the option to define the parameters of the sexual interaction. I’m always reading about the surprising connections that cam performers make with their clients. After multiple sessions, people really bond. They get to know one another and share things that are deeply personal. I’ve heard it said that good sex is a release valve on emotional tension. If that’s true, then Cams provide a release that porn will never be able to match. But things are taken one step further by virtue of interactivity. Not only do you direct the action, but the response is immediate!
In contrast with porn, cams give each individual performer agency over the production and distribution of their product. While porn actresses are given a flat ass fucking rate in their contracts, sex cam performers are free to charge whatever they want for their shows. They have control over who they broadcast to, for how much money, and have final say in what happens. Most critically, their income is more proportional with the audience they’re able to draw. Not to mention they’re not risking an STD or injury by having sex with a stranger in an L.A. mansion. Cam performers control their own content, branding, and marketing. They can use cams as a tool to build businesses and become entrepreneurs. They have ownership and agency over their sexuality - something porn proponents often argue for, despite the fact that this is almost never the case in porn.
Whether you compare porn and cams from an ethical perspective, or compare the value to the consumer, cams come out on top. The sex cam experience cuts out middleman business interests and brings sex work to the two parties that matter - the performer and the customer. Is it any wonder that traditional porn is a dying business?
